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A review by sarahh1425
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
0.0
I’m just going to quote a couple paragraphs for context:
> “If you’re not in my office in fifteen, I will come out here, throw you over my shoulder, and carry your ass back there.” I leaned in closer, almost close enough to kiss her. “And there is no way that skirt of yours is up for that.”
… Sixteen minutes later … I went straight for her … I caught her by the arm and bent at the waist. She was up over my shoulder in less than a second … Naomi squirmed, trying to right herself, but I wasn’t having any of it. I gave her a hard slap on the ass, catching denim, cotton, and bare skin.
The bar erupted into pandemonium.<
This is sexual assault. Pure and simple. In any context, a guy grabbing a girl, physically assaulting her, touching her with sexual intent and exposing her in public is sexual assault. And Knox isn’t even in a relationship with Naomi at this point (not that this behavior is okay within a relationship either)
I’m not being nitpicky, or dismissing the whole book based on this one scene. This bit is actually just the most egregious example of Knox being a misogynistic, abusive sod of a human being, who makes this book utterly unreadable. I understand creating “grumpy” characters, and that’s fun, but there’s no fun in reading from the pov of a literal human asshole, especially when all of his toxic behaviors are being romanticized.
And again, I’m no prude. I love my villains and morally gray characters. But Knox in this book was clearly written by the author to be the swooning male alpha hero that everyone is meant to love, but also somehow is a liberal version of Andrew Tate. Every shitty behavior of his is excused away and he’s treated like he’s a god on earth.
I don’t like books like these, where we’re taught that it’s okay if shitty people do shitty things, as long as they’re hot. I don’t like books where a man can verbally and sexually assault a woman, and get away with it because he has a sad backstory. I don’t like how every action the man takes is perfectly alright, or treated with a half-hearted talking to. Seriously, after the scene above, not one of Naomi’s friends or seemed to be worried about the fact that AFTER SHE WAS PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED AND SEXUALLY EXPOSED AT HER PLACE OF WORK, BY HER BOSS. No, they’re just worried about her “broken heart” and “embarrassment”.
I don’t think there are enough words to express how much I despise and dislike Knox. I hate every word or thought he ever said or had. Given that 50% of the book is his voice, you can understand the one star rating.
Less importantly, I also disliked Naomi. She’s just such a perfectly wonderful character, she almost belongs in fairyland. Heart of gold, always cares for others, never selfish - in short, the perfect woman. Compared to Knox, she’s an alright character, but she’s not in anyway likeable. And there’s absolutely no point reading a romance novel where the main ROMANCE consists of a human pile of shit and a woman so boring and unlikable I was almost rooting for her evil twin to win.
I know if a man like Knox did exist, every woman on the planet would be staying as far away from him as possible, so it’s impossible to read this book and be sucked into the romance, when the whole time you’re thinking “what the fuck Naomi?? Get out while you can!” The writing was shitty, and it actually felt like this book was written in one long coffee-fueled spell, because it reads like that (and ENOUGH with the coffee mentions already. We get it, Naomi is addicted to caffeine. It doesn’t need to be her entire personality). The chapters end in really weird, abrupt places that seriously spoil the flow of the book, and makes me wonder if they just arbitrarily split up a long story to make short chapters.
In short, this book wouldn’t be worth your time or your money even if it was 300 pages shorter. At over 600 pages, it’s definitely even worse
> “If you’re not in my office in fifteen, I will come out here, throw you over my shoulder, and carry your ass back there.” I leaned in closer, almost close enough to kiss her. “And there is no way that skirt of yours is up for that.”
… Sixteen minutes later … I went straight for her … I caught her by the arm and bent at the waist. She was up over my shoulder in less than a second … Naomi squirmed, trying to right herself, but I wasn’t having any of it. I gave her a hard slap on the ass, catching denim, cotton, and bare skin.
The bar erupted into pandemonium.<
This is sexual assault. Pure and simple. In any context, a guy grabbing a girl, physically assaulting her, touching her with sexual intent and exposing her in public is sexual assault. And Knox isn’t even in a relationship with Naomi at this point (not that this behavior is okay within a relationship either)
I’m not being nitpicky, or dismissing the whole book based on this one scene. This bit is actually just the most egregious example of Knox being a misogynistic, abusive sod of a human being, who makes this book utterly unreadable. I understand creating “grumpy” characters, and that’s fun, but there’s no fun in reading from the pov of a literal human asshole, especially when all of his toxic behaviors are being romanticized.
And again, I’m no prude. I love my villains and morally gray characters. But Knox in this book was clearly written by the author to be the swooning male alpha hero that everyone is meant to love, but also somehow is a liberal version of Andrew Tate. Every shitty behavior of his is excused away and he’s treated like he’s a god on earth.
I don’t like books like these, where we’re taught that it’s okay if shitty people do shitty things, as long as they’re hot. I don’t like books where a man can verbally and sexually assault a woman, and get away with it because he has a sad backstory. I don’t like how every action the man takes is perfectly alright, or treated with a half-hearted talking to. Seriously, after the scene above, not one of Naomi’s friends or seemed to be worried about the fact that AFTER SHE WAS PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED AND SEXUALLY EXPOSED AT HER PLACE OF WORK, BY HER BOSS. No, they’re just worried about her “broken heart” and “embarrassment”.
I don’t think there are enough words to express how much I despise and dislike Knox. I hate every word or thought he ever said or had. Given that 50% of the book is his voice, you can understand the one star rating.
Less importantly, I also disliked Naomi. She’s just such a perfectly wonderful character, she almost belongs in fairyland. Heart of gold, always cares for others, never selfish - in short, the perfect woman. Compared to Knox, she’s an alright character, but she’s not in anyway likeable. And there’s absolutely no point reading a romance novel where the main ROMANCE consists of a human pile of shit and a woman so boring and unlikable I was almost rooting for her evil twin to win.
I know if a man like Knox did exist, every woman on the planet would be staying as far away from him as possible, so it’s impossible to read this book and be sucked into the romance, when the whole time you’re thinking “what the fuck Naomi?? Get out while you can!” The writing was shitty, and it actually felt like this book was written in one long coffee-fueled spell, because it reads like that (and ENOUGH with the coffee mentions already. We get it, Naomi is addicted to caffeine. It doesn’t need to be her entire personality). The chapters end in really weird, abrupt places that seriously spoil the flow of the book, and makes me wonder if they just arbitrarily split up a long story to make short chapters.
In short, this book wouldn’t be worth your time or your money even if it was 300 pages shorter. At over 600 pages, it’s definitely even worse
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment